Disney’s ”True-Life Adventures” still strong 60 years later

In the 1970s, long before cable television made inroads into American homes, there were only four major television networks: ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS. Call me an old fart if you will, but I have to smile whenever I hear my nieces complain that “there’s nothing on TV” when they have access to hundreds of digital cable or satellite channels. In the words of Jeff Foxworthy, “if the President was on, your evening was shot.”

Most of the weeknight programming was taken up by sitcoms and dramas aimed more at adults. But on Sunday nights, provided it wasn’t delayed by a football game, there was always the Wonderful World of Disney.

Sometimes, if we were lucky, the show would present cartoons such as Chip and Dale, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Pluto, or any of the other Disney animated fare. Sometimes it was a drama along the lines of Davy Crockett or “Old Yeller.” And sometimes it was a “True-Life” nature documentary on the desert, or the ocean, or some other exotic locale.

Today’s multi-channel cable/satellite channels are always carrying some nature documentary. But it was Walt Disney who really pioneered the genre, with his “True-Life Adventures” series. And even though “Seal Island” won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject, the distributor RKO Pictures balked on releasing documentaries when Disney was ready to release their first full-length “True-Life” feature, “The Living Desert,” in 1953.

Walt and Roy Disney took the opportunity to found their own distribution company, Buena Vista. And for an initial investment of $500,000, “The Living Desert” took in $5 million and a Best Documentary Oscar. In all, seven of the 13 “True-Life Adventures” films would go home with Academy Awards during their successful 12-year run.

The second discs offer other minor documentaries that were not released under the “True-Life” banner, but are just as beautiful. There are also visits to Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park in Florida, showcasing the park’s animal attractions. There’s also mini-docs on the photographers and “Collector’s Corner,” showcasing the different merchandising, marketing and press kit items that accompanied each film’s release.

My only real quibble is with the packaging. Each disc set comes in a metal tray with a cheap plastic cover. The discs themselves are packaged in a circular metal tray, with cardboard disc holders. Behind the green felt disc holder is a card showing the discs’ contents, and a “Passport” showing the locations where the documentaries were made.

The circular tray means you can’t put them on your DVD shelf easily, so you have to save the metal tray containers. And there’s no label on the side of the tray, so you have to pull them off the shelf. In their previous metal box collections, there was a standard DVD double case inside that could be set on a shelf. They should have done the same here.

The price point means that collectors and nostalgia buffs are probably the target audience. That’s too bad. These documentaries can hold their own against anything shown on the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet.